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Track and record Revolve users

This article explains how to keep track of which users are using Revolve and how to create a Revolve usage report.

Problem:

Is there a way to track which users are using Revolve when and how much? Is there any kind of a DOS script or cmd file that could read the Userid directories and Log files to create a Revolve usage report?

Resolution:

One way to do this is to change the way Revolve is started, so that rather than invoking from the START menu, what the user invokes is a .bat file, or menu (HTML page) that provides them with a link. Additional things can be put on the page such as links to documentation, tricks & tips, reports that may already be generated, etc. When the user starts the process by clicking on the link the .bat file captures their ID, timestamp, and the program they have selected and writes this to a log file. With the timestamp in the file, you can check things like the number of users per day (or week or month). The administrator then can also use this mechanism to pass any information to Revolve via an environment variable. Beyond this capture, the administrator should survey the users to answer questions such as:

1) How many queries run on average each time you start Revolve?

2) How much time to you save for an average query?

If this is tracked, the administrator should be able to report savings estimates in terms of time, and if the organization has a metric for what a fully loaded developer hour costs, then easily convert this to a monetary cost savings.